Hands are not sufficient – Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) once bet with his older colleague, compatriot Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), in a crate of best champagne. This bet was some kind of playing competition. They both were supposed to play some difficult composition that Mozart wrote on that day, and see who of them will be able to play it to the end.

Haydn agreed and the notes were placed on the spinet.

Just after a few strokes on the piano, Haydn saw that he wasn't up to it. He slowed down, and eventually stopped playing. This was because, while his two hands were playing at the both ends of the piano, he was supposed to press a key in the middle.

He tried to figure out how to do it, but he was out of ideas.

Then Mozart took his place and started playing.

When he got to that "improbable stroke", Mozart bowed his head and pressed the key - with his nose.

 

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Insurance – Leopold Godowsky, Jr.

Leopold Godowsky Jr. (1900-1983), American violinist,  inventor of first practical color transparency film (Kodachrome) and son of the famous pianist and composer of the same name, once asked his sister to drive his children, three-year-old twins, to his home.

“Please drive carefully”, Leopold warned his sister, “as I have two violins worth fifty thousand dollars in the luggage compartment”.

“You're so insensitive!” – his sister said. “Which am I supposed to watch first, the twins or the fiddles?”

“The twins, of course” – said Godowsky. “The violins are very well insured”.

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Wrong setup – George Enescu

Famous Romanian violinist, composer, pianist, conductor and teacher George Enescu (1881-1955) was once asked by a distinguished fellow compatriot to take care of musical career of his son, who had ambitions to become a violinist.

Unfortunately, that boy was not musically gifted but since Enescu owed a big favor to his friend, he agreed to do it.

He tried really hard to teach the boy how to play, but his efforts were without much success. Through his contacts he even managed to arrange him a debut concert in the Gavo Concert Hall in Paris.

Since he didn’t have the courage to ask of some pianist to accompany the unskilled violinist on the stage, Enesku took on himself that ungrateful task.

Before the concert, he asked the audience if there is anyone willing to assist him by turning pages for him while he is following the violinist. Alfred Cortot, at that time the most famous pianist in France, volunteered immediately.

As might have been assumed, the concert was a disaster.

Two days later, daily newspaper Le Figaro published a review of the concert. The article was brief, but eloquent:

”Last night, at the Gavo Concert Hall, a curious event took place. It was a violin and piano recital at which the man who played the piano should have been playing the violin and the man turning the pages should have been playing the piano, while the man playing the violin should have been turning the pages!”

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